Five People Were Killed During Two Separate Attacks By Palestinians

Following two separate attacks by Palestinians in Tel Aviv and the occupied West Bank, five people are dead.

The first involved the fatal stabbing of two Israeli men outside a room being used for prayers in Tel Aviv. According to The New York Times, Israeli police said the stabbing took place in a second-floor shop selling synagogue decorations.

A group of Israelis was praying at the shop earlier today when a bloodied man stumbled inside and collapsed, The Guardian reports.

Shimon Vaknin, a witness, reportedly said,

In the middle of the prayers, suddenly we saw a man fall down wounded at the entrance to the synagogue and behind him a man with a knife who was trying to get inside. Someone shouted, 'There's a terrorist!'

Vaknin said he and his fellow worshippers then held the door shut as the attacker tried to force his way inside.

The bloodied man was the third to be stabbed and sustained minor wounds.

Two more people were fatally stabbed near the shop beforehand, one of whom was reportedly in his 20s.

Police said the attacker, a 36-year-old father of five from the occupied West Bank, was stopped by civilians before being arrested, according to ABC News.

He was reportedly working at a nearby restaurant and obtained a permit to work in Israel.

A shooting took place at the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut just hours later, killing three people and injuring eight or nine more.

Police said the Palestinian shooter, who was in a car, opened fire on an Israeli minibus before purposefully driving into a group of people at a road junction.